


Encyclopedia Meracydia

by Starcrossedsky



Series: crimson was the blood that we shed [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fan races, Fanlore, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26057038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starcrossedsky/pseuds/Starcrossedsky
Summary: Nael's massive pile of FFXIV fan lore, focusing primarily on the continent of Meracydia in the modern era.
Series: crimson was the blood that we shed [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883116
Kudos: 3





	Encyclopedia Meracydia

**Author's Note:**

> This is intended as a reference document for my fic, but if for some reason you want to make use of this lore - by all means, go wild. Show me what you've made, I'd be excited to see it.
> 
> Anyway if FFXIV can go so hard on Ivalice that we get the viera with basically no changes, then I can remix and redoctor the aegyl to my heart's content. Bite me. This is more of an "inspired by" than a transplanted race.

**THE AEGYL**   
History and Culture

A race of man thought to be mythological by all but the most extreme of scholars, the aegyl have not been seen on the surface of Hydaelyn in over three millennia. In the days prior to the fall of Allag, their people were relentlessly hunted for experimental purposes, and so their leaders broke their homeland from the earth and took it to the sky, creating the sky continent of Purvama. This "continent" floats in varied patterns over the remains of the Meracydian continent, with each individual island having its own drifting path. This network of unpredictable-to-an-outsider routes served as another defense against the possibility of invasion by Allag or its allies, by making the planning of an invasion that would conquer the islands swiftly nearly impossible. Since the raising of the islands, the aegyl have had virtually no contact with the world below, although they observe from above the continued aetherial depletion of the rest of the Meracydian continent.

In theory, the aegyl are ruled by a single royal family, from the skycity of Bhujerba. In practicality, however, the role of the royal family is symbolic outside of their own island, and each island city-state effectively rules itself. Depending on the exact island, they may go for years without passing close enough to Bhujerba to even signal news, and so actual rule by the royal family is impractical. Similarly, although the Lemurian priesthood exists across all of the islands, the actual doctrine can vary wildly from island to island, due to their long separations and rare exchanges of information and ideas. It is most typical for the local government of a particular island to be formed of a composite of the priesthood and a local, more political system (either nobility or village council/mayor, depending on the exact community).

Due to their history and isolation, aegyl are almost completely ignorant of lowerworld politics and development since the era of Allag. They escaped damage from the Allagan Calamity of Earth; the Calamities of Ice and Water were both blessings to them, increasing the amount of water available on the floating islands, to the point that where it was once rationed carefully, it is now free to use. (However, due to a combination of this history and the oils in their feathers, the aegyl hygiene routine never includes more water use than a moderate shower, and full baths are unheard of.)

A deep wariness of Allag remains in the society, and is a driving force behind their continued isolation and xenophobia. The descent of Dalamud was a period of collective terror for aegyl society, who recalled well the second moon's origins in Allag even if they were ignorant of its true nature. Its extremely destructive fall was witnessed from Bhujerba (which was, at the time, passing over the near-to-Eorzea edge of its route, far out to sea between Meracydia and Vylbrand) and word of this has spread across all aegyl settlements. For the first time in three thousand years, the aegyl wonder if it may be safe to descend, after seeing one of their enemy's greatest weapons fall back to earth, but no officially sanctioned action has been taken to investigate.

Possessed of few resources within the lands they took with them, the aegyl are masters of using renewable resources for anything they can, and re-using those resources (such as metal and stone) that they cannot. There are a few aegyl who are authorized to descend into the lowerworld for trade, but this permission is entirely under the control of the priesthood, who also control the arrival of new metals, ores, and other resources as a result. The lowerworld traders are often isolated from the rest of aegyl society; this is justified by the paranoia surrounding the possibility of Allagan spies and influence, or the possibility of the traders being captured. It is not uncommon for traders to go missing, a fact that the priesthood uses to maintain their control over the industry.

Rather than the worship of any particular god, the priesthood is focused around a single living individual as the repository of the people's hopes. These individuals typically serve for ten-year periods, and are often branch members of the royal family. The focus on a living, actual individual, who is then completely retired from the religion after their terms come to an end, is out of an effort to ensure that no entity accumulates the kind of faith energy that would produce a primal. This individual undergoes intensive training (overseen by the priesthood) and gives up their name for the duration of their term, referred to instead only as "his/her/their Grace."

The sky islands are divided into two groups - the low-flying Dorstonis islands, including Bhujerba, and the higher-flying islands of Lemurés. Generally, Dorstonis islands are more urbanized, with Lemurian isles being more rural, though these are not perfect divisions. The differences between the two have given rise to two subspecies of the aegyl. Dorstoni aegyl are small by the standards of lowerworld races (being of a height with mi'qote, at most, and more commonly on a scale with auri women) and tend to have hair and plumage in bright colors. Lemurian aegyl are far taller (similar in scale to elezen, and similarly long-limbed relative to the broadness of their shoulders), and usually have hair and plumage in only shades of natural colors - browns and tans of the earth, the green of living foliage, and the blues of water and the sky.

Generally, the aetherial climate of the islands - especially the Lemurian isles - is high in water, wind, and ice aether. As a whole, the islands, and their occupants, tend towards a mild light-aspecting. As a result of this, aegyl tend to age more slowly than other races, especially those in Lemurés. They have comparatively short childhoods - hitting puberty at ten years of age and full physical maturity by fifteen - and a long period of physical maturity before they begin to decline, similarly to viera. A Dostoni aegyl might expect to live to a century and a half before their body begins to fail them; a Lemurian aegyl could expect something more like two.

Physical Description

The most obvious unique physical trait of the aegyl is, of course, their wings. Large and feathered, they are not quite flightworthy on their own, though they can be used to enhance jumps, glide, and escape injury from falls. Minor aetherial manipulations, however, allow the aegyl proper flight while conscious in any area not depleted of aether. (In the Allagan period, small magitek devices called "flight engines," worn on the back of the waist, created an artificial form of this affect that also enabled flight. The aetherial fields generated by flight engines more readily enabled combat, as a warrior with a flight engine could devote their whole focus to fighting instead of having to sustain their own flight.) Aegyl wings are set as a part of the upper back and shoulders, and their placement results in a limited arm reach in that area, in comparison to other races. Most aegyl have no ability to reach behind their backs from the top of the shoulder to the waist, a range of motion that is a direct limitation of the structure of their shoulders, rather than one caused by the presence of wings. Typically, Dorstoni aegyl have longer and narrower wings than Lemurian aegyl - the latter are built more like soaring birds, while the former are more akin to diving birds such as seabirds or falcons.

Other than their wings, it is not uncommon for aegyl to have feathers on the backs of their arms, up and down the spine, and along the jaw and hairline. Their hair color usually matches their plumage, but not always, and there is a distinctly downy floofiness to aegyl hair (unless it has been aesthetically treated to another texture), with a distinct widow's peak that can sometimes extend almost to the eyebrows. They possess virtually no body hair, and usually have extremely sharp noses and somewhat avian features in general. Notably, the aegyl nose typically lacks a dip inwards between the eyes, as is common in other races. Facial markings are not uncommon, particularly around the eyes and eyebrows, but they are almost always symmetrical.

Aegyl women tend to be slightly taller than men, and this additional height is almost entirely in the length of their limbs, as their torsos are roughly the same size. As noted above, there is a great disparity in the average heights of the two populations, although this rarely makes a difference in day to day interactions, in which both parties would usually be flying or floating anyway. It is not uncommon for aegyl to lose muscle mass in their legs and foot calluses after childhood.

Aegyl personalities tend to be aloof and moderate, sometimes even cold compared to those of other races. Aegyl emotional expressions are subtle and understated, and they often seem personality-less to outsiders who aren't familiar with the more subtle ways their personalities are expressed. [SHB spoilers However, this is a side effect of the high exposure to Light-aspected aether they get in the sky islands. The aegyl historically present in the lowerworld, and indeed any modern aegyl who have been away from that environment for longer than a few years and aegyl on other shards, have a more normal emotional and personality profile The main exception is the priests, who work with dark-aspected creative aether all the time..]

The cultural norm is for aegyl to be on the wing unless they have reason not to be - the high levels of wind aether in the air allow them to hover almost continuously while conscious. Footsteps are a sound that most aegyl are hyper-attuned to, as putting your feet on the ground is often a way to draw attention. On a similar note, many aegyl do not wear shoes, or only the bare minimum of foot coverings if they do; those in positions of power and authority, meanwhile, will often wear high heels and other hard-soled shoes in order to make the sound of their footsteps more distinct and sharp. Aegyl children who cannot yet fly often also run around barefoot, though they may also wear minimal sandals.

Outside of shoes, the most notable thing about aegyl garments is the construction of upper body wear to accomodate for wings. Tops are usually essentially flaps of fabric hanging from the shoulders, secured by a sash around the waist. Front closures may be present, and if they are they often rise all the way to the neck, but there is no attempt besides the sash to secure the trailing sections of the rear of the garment. With how little aegyl can reach behind their backs, it's just impractical. Thus, most aegyl garments have fluttering ends flaring from the waist, usually one in the back and two in the front - sometimes five, if there is a division between the arms and wings in the garment's design. Garments with sleeves are pulled over the head and down, so that the back flap falls between the wings naturally.

Few aegyl wear armor; even those fighting on the front lines usually have only hardened leather that is sewn onto more typically styled garments. Aegyl jewelry is usually woven of natural cords, with hard pieces being made of bone or cured wood; metal is too rare and valuable for anyone but the richest to use for mere decorative purposes. Metal weapons, on the other hand, are the most common (as this is viewed as one of the most acceptable uses of metal, as weapons can be passed down a family if well-cared for).

The aegyl have a variety of unique combat jobs; given their isolation from the rest of the world, jobs outside of this range are virtually unheard of. Summoners, with their historical roots in Allagan society, are known but would make aegyl wary at best. Aegyl don masks when going into combat; those who have declared themselves to be at war or feuding may wear masks all the time, even when not actively in battle. (Fortunately this is extremely rare, as the aegyl do not war with each other, and combat is usually against the native beasts of their islands.)

Naming conventions

Both Dorstoni and Lemurian aegyl use the same naming conventions, which can be quite confusing to outsiders, as they actually present four distinct pieces of information, in an order that is strange to those used to the common personal name-family name systems in common use in Eorzea and Ilsabard. (On the rare occasions that aegyl are travelling in these lands, they may invert their names to personal-flight/clan order.)

The first piece of information is called a 'flight name' (though somewhat of a misnomer, as it is only a single vowel), and it indicates the year in which an aegyl first flew under their own power. (Flying being somewhat more complicated than walking, and also requiring fledgling feathers, this is typically not an event that takes place until around 8-10 years of age, well after the youngster has learned to walk properly.) This is separated from the next part of the name, the clan name, by an apostrophe. Flight name is never capitalized, and is left out in the names of aegyl who have yet to fly (or who will never be able to fly due to deformity or other issue; however, it is not removed from the names of those who can no longer fly).

The flight name is a single syllable, although it is written as a single letter, drawn from the 18 unaccented letters used in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_orthography (a b c d e f g h i l m n o p r s t u ). The vowel used to voice consonant flight names is not considered significant, and thus is omitted from orthography. Defaulting to an 'ah' sound or a schwa is typical; Lemurians may also slur the flight name into the clan name if the latter begins with a vowel, but this is less common among Dorstoni.

The second part of the name is the clan or family name, and the final part is the individual's personal name. Clan names are passed down from the parent born on the same island as the child, or if both parents are of the same island, the parent of the same sex as the child. (Aegyl relationships that take place on an island that neither parent is native to are virtually unheard of, but would also follow the same-sex rule. Queer relationships use the eldest parent's clan for all children, regardless of the child's sex, if the island rule is irrelevant.)

When aegyl not of the same city or island meet in the periods called "crossings" when it is possible to fly between settled islands, they prefix their names the island or city of the aegyl's birth. While Dorstoni are more likely to use a city or town name and Lemurians are more likely to simply use the name of the island they were born upon, there are exceptions to both, and it shouldn't be considered a hard and fast guideline.

Aegyl personal names have a strong tendency to involve natural elements. Lemurian aegyl may also name their children for what they hope the child will grow up to be, but this is far less of a common practice among Dorstoni aegyl.

For place names: Lemures locations in the Ivalice games can be found here: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Lemurés . The only place names given in the Dorstonis region in FF12 are Bhujerba and the Lhusu Mines, so Gran Pulse settlements from FF13 are included as a supplement: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Gran_Pulse

For clan names: While tending to be on the shorter side, clan names generally use the same syllabary as personal names (see below). However, many of them are archaic and include sounds that are no longer in the common language of the Purvama isles, much the same way as the names of places are often historical and have undergone less drift than the common language. Thus, although they usually have the same sounds, their orthography may not be the same as that of personal names.

For personal names: Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and other languages of the British isles that Aren't English and Look Unpronounceable and Awful are appropriate.

Example names: Bhujerba a'Feol Aodhan (Aodhan a'Feol), Oerba d'Llua Caoilinn (Caoilinn d'Llua), Tormelados t'Oitre Mahon (Mahon t'Oitre), Kisne f'Arpa Glynis (Glynis f'Arpa)

The Aegyl of the First - The Flumen

The Flumen are as difficult to find as their counterparts in the Source, but theirs is a recent isolation, and one borne not of their own choice. It was only recently that the Flumen took leave of the greater part of Norvrandt, retreating to the mountains beyond Il Mheg (the equivalent of Dravania in the Source). Although the number of people with living memory of them is few (outside the handful of Viis encountered beyond the borders of their wood), it is only a generation or two further back that they were common.

And the explanation for this is equal parts simple and tragic - the Flumen, with their large feathered wings, came quite quickly to be associated with sin eaters and the Flood. While it is far from a correct assumption, the reality of it is that the people of Norvrandt, deeply fearing the sin eaters, exiled the Flumen from their settlements by association, and so drove them to the northern edge of the world. Were it not for the fae settling the area that was once Voeburt and preventing passage into the northern mountains, they might has been driven out entirely, to the Empty to perish as a race.

However, that is not to say that the Flumen have been thriving in their mountain sanctuary. A difficult and hard situation has produced a difficult and hard people, with little love for the rest of Norvrandt. They are cold towards most outsiders, though more tolerant of those who have been granted leave to pass through the domain of the fae. However, outside of this chilly reception, the Flumen are far more emotionally open, and indeed quite emotional as a people compared to most others of the First. With reasons to rejoice few and far between, almost all are celebrated by the whole community, rather than simply those directly involved. Even something as simple as a successful return to the village from a hunt is worth celebration.

The crystalline wall of the halted Flood comes directly up to the base of Mount Bur-Omisace, the equivalent to Sohm Al in the Source. Much of the area settled by the Flumen is within the lava tunnels of the upper part of the mountain, with lookout posts scattered around the edges of the floating peak. Even settlements outside of the mountain itself are wedged mostly underground, into valleys and mountain ravines, which renders them both disguised from the air and more defensible against sin eater intrusion. It is only by the grace of the mountains that the Flumen have escaped the light, and such faith as they can spare is returned to the earth.

Unlike the aegyl of the Source, there is no distinct height disparity in the Flumen; they stand, on average, even with Midlander Hyur. Flumen women, however, are still taller on average than the men. Although they are similarly capable of flight to their Source counterparts, there are fewer Flumen who actually possess the skill at manipulating aether to do so. Flight is for warriors, those who would meet the sin eaters head-on in the air, or fly between the lookout posts carrying messages; it isn't appropriate to fly in daily life.

It is considered a sign of deep unluckiness to be born with pale feathers among the Flumen. Although such individuals are not ostracized further by a people who were driven from the lands they once called home, they do have a limited number of roles available to them within their settlements. Those whose wings are merely pale often become warriors, or else dye their feathers in more vibrant shades. Those whose wings are of true white, however, bear the duty of caring for those who suffer from the sin eater's affliction - and 'care' in this sense is harsher than the care offered by the Inn at Journey's Head. The Flumen draw the line at when a victim of the sin eaters is no longer responsive to outside stimulus, and the 'treatment' is a swift slitting of the throat. As a result of this, the "white wings" have also come to be responsible for other burial and funerary rites.


End file.
